Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Sandy sufferers still locked in insurance fights
Battles are forewarning to Harvey, Irma victims
NEW YORK — The destructive floodwaters of Superstorm Sandy receded quickly, but some storm victims are still neck-deep in a battle over insurance payouts. And many victims of this year’s storms in Texas, Florida and elsewhere should brace themselves for a similar fight, lawyers involved in Sandy insurance battles say.
As Sandy’s fifth anniversary approaches Oct. 29, more than 1,000 families in New York and New Jersey are still fighting with the Federal Emergency Management Agency over their flood insurance claims, according to government statistics.
The FEMA-run National Flood Insurance Program paid out $8.2 billion to about 144,000 policyholders after Sandy, a critical safety net that saved many homeowners from financial ruin.
But many storm victims also complained that they were shortchanged by the private insurance companies hired to administer the program and left with too little money to repair the damage.
Under pressure from Congress, FEMA reopened the Sandy claims process in 2015 and since then has paid out an additional $396 million, but some property owners continue to argue that they are owed more.
In the barrier island city of Long Beach, New York, Jamilyn Spellman is among those still fighting, even though her Sandy-damaged home has long since been demolished, the land beneath it sold and its original owner — her mother — has died of cancer.
“She just wanted to die at home,” said Spellman. But “she died displaced … literally, in the hospice, talking about FEMA.”
After nearly every major storm, lawyers for Sandy victims said, disputes arise over fair payouts that can be maddeningly difficult to resolve.
“It has been a struggle every step of the way,” said August Matteis, a Washington, D.C., lawyer whose firm is representing about 1,200 policyholders going through the FEMA review. “FEMA is still fighting us tooth and nail for every penny.”
Amy Bach, executive director of the advocacy group United Policyholders, said the lessons of Sandy and other past storms show that victims of this year’s hurricanes need to take an aggressive approach to their claims, too.
Among other things, she said, victims should thoroughly photograph their home’s condition, inside and out, before making even temporary repairs or cleaning out debris.
“You need to be proactive in documenting and valuing your losses if you want to get a fair, full and timely settlement,” she said.
The National Flood Insurance Program was created to protect homeowners unable to buy insurance in the private sector because they live in high-risk flood zones.
While many homeowners with Sandy policies settled claims quickly, more than 2,000 sued over what they said was sloppy work by some of the insurance adjusters and structural engineers who were rushed into the disaster zone to evaluate the damage.